Whippets turn back Magic for semifinal berth

Photo by Brad Spahr. Downingtown West players, from left, Kayla Feairheller, Lindsay Galczynski, Maddie Dew, Brittany Sicinski and Devin DiFranks celebrate following their 42-35 win over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs at Downingtown West High School.

DOWNINGTOWN -- The Mount St. Joseph girls basketball team goes by the nickname Magic, and they’ve certainly created more than their fair share of that on the court over the years by winning a PIAA Class AAA title in 2008 and the District 1 Class AAAA championship last season. On Saturday night, though, it was another team who has been quietly creating a magical campaign of its own this winter who found themselves adding another chapter to its storybook season.

Ches-Mont League champs Downingtown West, the No. 4 seeds, ended No. 5 Mount St. Joseph’s reign a top the district thanks a gutsy 42-35 victory over the visiting Magic in Saturday night’s quarterfinal round District 1 Class AAAA playoff game.

Downingtown West (25-2 overall), who has now won 20 straight games, finds itself just two more wins away from their first-ever district title after surviving an intense back-and-forth battle in which they trailed by two points late in the contest. Freshman guard Maddie Dew, who was in the game after the host Whippets lost senior Allison Shaw to an injury late in the third quarter, knocked down a gigantic 3-pointer with 1:57 remaining to give her a team a 36-35 lead. They would never relinquish it the rest of the way.

Downingtown West senior point guard Brittany Sicinski, who turned in a brilliant performance with a game-high 22 points, knocked down 7-of-7 free throws in the final moments to help push the Whippets into the district semifinals. They’ll face No. 9 North Penn, who upset top-seeded Cheltenham, on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m.) at Norristown High School.

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“This is definitely a really big win for us. I think they came in here expecting to beat us,” said Sicinski. “Even when we got down tonight we all kept our heads high, and we came together as a team.

“This is really exciting for us because we have never made it this far since I’ve been here. We are all doing whatever we can at this point to get to Villanova and the district championship game. It feels like we have a shot to do it.”

Mount St. Joseph (22-5) still has life itself despite the loss. The Magic have already qualified for the state tournament, and will now fight it out for their seed in the consolation bracket, starting Wednesday night against Cheltenham.

It was a close, hard-fought, physical game from start to finish. Downingtown West led by one point after the first quarter, 7-6, and then by one point again at halftime, 16-15. Mount St. Joseph, who got a big game from sophomore Alex Louin (17 points), began to turn the tides in the third quarter. The Magic got a 3-pointer from senior guard Bridget Higgins (10 points) as time expired to end the period, giving her team a 28-26 lead going into the final eight minutes.

Shaw helped Downingtown West overcome the adversity of losing Shaw to injury as she knocked down two key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Her first one came with 5:15 left and gave the Whippets a 31-30 lead. The Magic would then scored the next three points, all on free throws, to go back up in front 33-31 with 3:02 left. Sicinski responded for West with a basket at the 2:31 mark to tie the game, but Higgins answered right back for Mount St. Joseph to give the Magic a 35-33 lead with 2:10 left on the clock.

Not long after Dew struck again for West when Sicinski kicked the ball out to her, and the freshman knocked down a clutch three to put the Whippets ahead for good.

“That was a big time 3-pointer,” said Mount St. Joseph coach John Miller. “We didn’t want to just let Sicinski go to the basket, and to her credit she kicked the ball out and the other girl made a big shot.

“Both teams played very hard. Both teams kept fighting and kept taking small leads against each other. They made the plays when it counted. I told our girls to keep their heads up. We have to regroup because we still have plenty of basketball left.”

Sicinski scored 10 her 22 points in the fourth quarter. She also added 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and didn’t turn the ball over a single time on the night. Dew, Shaw and Kayla Feairheller all added six points for West.

“Brittany was huge tonight, but at the same time everybody was huge,” said Downingtown West coach Dave Johnson. “The kids really stepped up. Maddie’s two three’s were big, especially that last one. For a freshman to take a big shot like that -- wow.

“It was a back-and-forth game. Their sophomore is terrific. We tried to not let their other girls beat us. It was a fun game to be a part of.”